The flip side of that is Jonas Kaufmann: It's Christmas, which is not good, at least not for me; his tone in English is weak which is weird - he goes totally wrong but is really strong in the opera selections where he's not singing in English.
Yes...this is a great Christmas album...solid, skilled guitarist with a love for the genre. Recently released a real nice instrumental Beatle record too...(had to go there).
Here is an album (I only have it on CD) that gets a lot of playtime for me during the holidays! Crystal Lewis--Holiday! (2000) with the Peter Erskine Trio and some superb jazz-based Christmas tunes!
What a hidden gem of a holiday album, and the artist was totally under my radar. I ordered the last new copy on Amazon (my apologies to all), but you can still get one on eBay, though it does not come cheap, if you desire a brand new copy. She even has a couple of songs with strings as well, gorgeously arranged by one of my favorite piano players, Alan Pasqua. I love the trio sound as well, being very familiar with the legendary drummer Peter Erskine (I got to learn his name from all those Michael Bublé albums, including his fantastic Christmas one. Check out her glorious, but subdued, version of O Holy Night, with a truly stellar piano solo from Pasqua at the 2:45 mark.
Okay, here is another distinctive classic holiday album from the Golden Age. Christmas With Ronnie Aldrich features the twin pianos of the artist, with the equally stellar London Festival Orchestra. It ranks in the top 40 of the YuleLog.com's Top 500 Christmas albums. Take a Sleigh Ride below with the Ronnie and his twin pianos!
For anyone like me who finds appeal in the more somber and serious Christmas/winter music, I really like stuff like Nox Arcana and Midnight Syndicate. My wife finds a whole album of these pieces a bit gloomy, so I slot them in to a Christmas playlist and spread them out a bit.
Indeed she is Brad, but a lot of people, including myself apparently, are not aware of a lot of these fine and successful contemporary gospel acts until they crossover to some of the Billboard pop charts the way Lauren Daigle has in the last few years. I bet even some of Crystal's gospel fans might be surprised by her fine jazz chops that she uses on her marvelous holiday album as well.
Kind of an odd one, since it's a choir singing carols. Very different from the usual Sing Along with Mitch style.
Anybody who has read any of my previous posts knows that I am a huge fan of crooner and instrumental holiday music from the Golden Age, but I also love a true great rock 'n' roll holiday album when they come around once in a decade or so. Elvis Presley's two Christmas albums are both fantastic as is the Phil Spector holiday album, but here is a county music artist that can rock like Elvis on the great Charles Brown classic, Please Come Home For Christmas, Gary Allan. Unfortunately, he never made a full fledged holiday album, well neither did Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Tom Jones or Sam Cooke much to my dismay, but he did make this classic holiday gem come alive with his great country/rock interpretation. I wish Elvis himselfish would have gotten around to recording this standard. I just love the piano player that almost steals the show, as well as the great wah-wah guitar near the 2:00 mark. Oh yeah, I still love the Eagles great cover version as well, but this version by Gary Allan has become my go-to for this classic.
A couple of more "modern" favorites are below. Both are EPs. A good amount of Low's output is already what I would classify as hymn-like anyway. So, a Christmas release makes sense to me.
I'm a fan of "O Holy Night" for a particular reason. My uncle recorded it on a 78 disc in his youth: one of those things you could record at a state fair, or a walk-in studio in a larger city. I've listened to it a few times in my youth, back before I was such a so-called cynic. It was a fine performance. I wasn't even singing at that time in my life, but you could clearly tell, he was up to the challenge. Uncle Paul was an opera fan, and singer, and was one of my father's two brothers and sister. The 78 stayed at my grandmother's house, where there was a bounty of 78's, as well as classical LP's. One day in the 1970's, while Grandmother was starting to slip, she did a nice thing for a neighbor who has just gotten a 78 record player: she set out a box of 78's on the porch for her. And, we don't know if Uncle Paul's disc was in there, but it was never located again. After a couple of our grandparent's basement floodings, a selection of 78's were found which belonged to my oldest uncle, and sat in his basement under the pool table for decades. I urged family members to at least look, but I've never heard if it turned up. Uncle Paul's son is a minister, and I can't help wonder if it means as much to him, as it did to me, knowing it might unknowingly exist somewhere within the family's junk. Ain't gonna find it on Discogs. I do know, if I'd had it...there would be a copy in every home of what remains of our family. I don't know of anybody in our family who had as much of an affinity for music as I have had over the years, as Uncle Paul, may he rest in peace. If ever there was a reason for me to have a nostalgic pull to Christmas music from my youth...this is a legitimate one.
What an awesome story and thanks for sharing it. I will always make the case that O Holy Night is the single greatest Christmas Carol ever written. The story and the melody can always seem to give me chills. I have never tired of listening to it. Forgive me if I am misremembering here, but are't you the one whose mother actually sang with Perry Como's backup singers at one time?
Thanks. Sorry, no. She was a housewife, mother, and volunteer for the Women's Service League of our local hospital. No musical ability, except for knowing how good Johnny Mathis was when she heard him.
She sounds exactly like my mother, who could not sing a lick, but had the most extraordinary taste in music. She saw Elvis in 1956 on the Dorsey Brothers Show and yelled for my father, "You have to come in here and see this guy, he's incredible." She once got into an argument with one of my father's relatives because they thought Elvis was just going to be a "flash in the pan." She also worshiped that Johnny Mathis Merry Christmas album. She could really spot talent, and knew a great voice when she heard it, as apparently your mother did as well. My mother also routinely picked out the top 40 list for my father's radio station, The Mighty 690, in the late 50's.
I do not think that Ella Fitzgerald gets enough radio play around this time of the year. Oh sure, almost everybody loves Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas, but how many people play her second splendid holiday album, Christmas, wonderfully arranged by the previously mentioned Ralph Carmichael (Nat King Cole's conductor on The Christmas Song)? Ella dials it down a notch and sings all these sweet Christmas carols straight and without her usual jazzy flair, but they are sung so well and so effortlessly that you might not appreciate the true beauty and artistry of this fine album. I would say that there are dozens of music artists who have made at least one great holiday album, but how many do you know that made at least two? I would put Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Elvis Presley, Jack Jones, Percy Faith, Mantovani, Dean Martin, and Kenny Rogers in that rarefied company with Ella. How many artists can you list that made more than one fantastic Christmas album?
The Dreamers/John Zorn: A dreamer's Christmas Marc Ribot − guitars Jamie Saft − keyboards Kenny Wollesen − vibes, chimes, glockenspiel Cyro Baptista − percussion Joey Baron − drums Trevor Dunn − acoustic and electric Bass Mike Patton − vocals (1 Track) The only Zorn album you can safely pack along to your holiday gatherings that won't alienate or provoke protest? Possibly. One of my favorite albums of Christmas tunes played by a crack band of master musicians who also record somewhat regularly for Zorn's Tzadik label as "The Dreamers". A floating, yes 'dreamy' sounding effort with interpretive twists to hold one's interest throughout. Replete with sticker set to keep the kiddies occupied. The ending track features a straight (ish) vocal from Mike Patton. Good stuff. Check out their 'secular' releases as well.
I second your pick. Johnny Mathis's angelic voice and spectacular range, combined with Percy Faith's escalating and glorious string arrangement, simply cannot be topped to my ears.